WASHINGTON — The small drone that crashed into a tree on the South Lawn of the White House early Monday morning was operated by a government employee who has told the Secret Service that he did not mean to fly it over the White House fence or near the president’s residence, according to law enforcement officials.
The employee — who does not work for the White House — has told the Secret Service that he was flying the drone for recreational use at about 3 a.m. in the area around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when he lost control of it.
So far, the Secret Service said it believed the man’s account.
In a second statement about the incident Monday afternoon, the Secret Service said an individual had called them at about 9:30 Monday morning to report that he had been the one controlling the drone when it crashed on the White House grounds.
FULL STORY:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/white-house-drone.html
AMA Response…
“We are glad to hear this was an innocent case of someone not realizing the implications of his actions, but this incident shows that education is needed to ensure unmanned aircraft are operated safely and responsibly. Although the UAS operator did not intend to cross over onto the White House lawn, the flight itself violated the Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ) surrounding the U.S. Capital. For this reason, AMA has been working with the industry and the FAA to educate UAS operators on the safe and responsible use of the technology through our ‘Know Before You Fly’ campaign. We are continuing to get word out through this campaign to help to prevent future incidents like this.”
Dave Mathewson, AMA Executive Director